Whammy!
From TeeVeePedia, the Internet TV Encyclopedia.
Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck was a short-lived revival of the game show Press Your Luck and ran on the Game Show Network.
Contents |
The Game Show
Host Todd Newton provided three players a chance to get a total four Whammies off of a huge board and go home. The show's format attracted a lot of viewers, but execs noticed that most of the viewers were children who were attracted to the 3D-style Whammy animations. As a result, the game show version of the series ended in 2003 and the show was transformed into a series of children's educational videos.
The Videos
Todd Newton later hosted and narrated the Whammy! "How-To" videos for kids ages 4 and up. The premise of the series was that kids would be tought how to stay away from a furry red mammal (known to game show fans as the Whammy) who was out for everyone's money. The show's announcer (for both versions) was Gary Kroeger.
Cease-and-Desist
The cult known as P.A.G.A.N. (People Against Good And Normalcy), who had devised the original "Press Your Luck" back in the 1980s, sent a cease-and-desist letter to Newton and Kroeger in 2004 after viewing the children's videos, and the series ended and the company went bankrupt.
Nowadays
The game show version can still be seen on the Game Show Network, while the videos are seen on PBS (with a short P.A.G.A.N.-funded notice saying the shows were not real).
